Secrets In The Ashes {Zuko x Reader}

The King of Omashu / Loyalty

The blade sings past my face, the whistle of it loud in my ears. The evasion is warranted, because if I hadn't moved my head six inches to the right I would have been skewered.

"Hey!" I protest.

Prince Zuko gets out of his stance to stand up straight. His loose, thin clothes are blowing slightly in the breeze.

"What?" It comes out as a growl.

There's sweat dripping off his head. Hot, sunny days like this one have been a rarity lately. The heat might be making him crankier than usual.

"First day back at practice and you try to decapitate me?" I'm trying my best to keep it light-hearted and keep the astonishment to jest levels — anything to keep him from throwing me out.

I'd tried in vain to continue our fighting practice even as I was waiting for my leg to heal, but every request had been vehemently denied. The only reason I'm out here now is because I begged the doctor to tell the prince I was fine and that exercise wasn't going to kill me.

At my dad's insistence — and I wonder if possibly General Iroh or Prince Zuko also agreed with him — I had been confined to my room to 'convalesce'. Not going anywhere made me go absolutely stir crazy, which is funny considering that's all I'd ever done for two years until just a couple weeks ago.

"I knew you'd dodge it," he pouts. "And anyway," he lunges, sword out, and I move to intercept. "I approved this practice to talk to you."

"Oh?" I don't know if he's ever wanted to talk to me before. You know, outside of work.

Our blades slam into each other, letting out that distinct metal ring throughout the deck.

"Have you seen or heard anything suspicious lately?"

I spin out of his reach as he tries to cut off one of my stabs.

"You mean while I've been stuck in my room? No, can't say that I have."

He scowls when he realizes I'm right.

"Well, I found out where Hirai was the day we landed on Kyoshi Island."

I stop so abruptly that he almost pins me on my sternum, but he stops himself before actually hurting me.

"Is he okay?"

He blinks, and I use the moment to try and slice him. He deflects me, of course.

"Why wouldn't he be okay?"

"He could've been killed for his uniform, or tortured to give up secrets... or... something." I drift off because he's looking at me like I just said a hog monkey served me breakfast this morning.

"It was his day off." He punctuates 'day off' to make sure I really get it.

I frown. "Okay."

"I didn't realize," he admits quietly with another hard thrust that I deftly deflect. "I should've known." Another gruff and twisting jab. He nearly gets me in the neck.

"What? How are you supposed to keep track of everyone's schedules all the time? That's not your job."

"Hirai always gets excited about his day off. He never shuts up about it in the meetings." He's muttering at this point.

I do a trick that he taught me when our swords meet and twist my wrist just right to disarm him. He manages to keep his sword in his hand though. Then his other sword swings in to swipe at my abdomen. I just barely spin away in time.

"Just because a man treasures his time off doesn't mean you're supposed to pay attention to when that time off is."

His lips thin. "All responsibility falls to me. This is my ship. This is my crew."